Saturday, November 7, 2009

Little bit of everything. 11/07/09 Wade

Haven't been fishing much, when I have, there hasn't been much to tell. Work is crazy busy and now we have an hour less light each day. Too bad. Suppose I still get more than my fair share. Not denying that, just making comparisons.

I am very close to my record for 18", 19", and 20"+ smallmouth in a year. Seems odd because this has clearly been the weakest of the last 5 years of stream fishing in terms of numbers of smallmouth bass.

The water was lower than expected and very clear. There was a lot of leaves in eddies, and many floaters as well. Not as bad as last time. Sun was bright but that is usually a good thing in cold months. Helps to warm water and pack bass into places you can't see bottom.

I aimed to hit a few winter holes. Picked up 5 fish quick from dink-nearly 15" under a bridge with 5' of leader under the float, float didn't sink, it just moved different.

Moved up and fished a Sycamore rootwad with FnF. Nothing. Switched rods and threw the tube. The tube was slowly tapping along the bottom, when it suddenly felt like someone flicked the bait with a ruler. I flipped my wrist back from 45 to 90. The rod bent double and a large fish was tearing up the surface. I was able to swim him clear across the creek, keeping pressure on to land the bass. Measured just shy of 20". Thick as a tick.

Picked up another bass 13" off the sycamore on the tube. Then another dink off some riprap on Float and Fly.

Moved up to a couple of other holes. Mostly waisting time, two more 13-14" smallies and a 10" crappie on float and fly.

Headed back downstream, nailed a couple on a white grub, finally a 15.5" bass fell to a chatterbait. Of note, the smallies were getting pretty frisky, several times nailed my float as I bounced it.

I ended up with 15 SMB (19.75", 2-15", 3-4 14"'s) 1 crappie

5.5 hours with a good half hour of that waisted walking between holes.

About Me

Documenting my catch and release river fishing adventures. "Smallmouth in Your Soup" Blog originated as a place to store my fishing adventures and reports for posterity's sake. I am available for consultation on river smallmouth bass knowledge.

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